Cardfight!! Vanguard Episode #10

Aichi has survived the first round but now he must go up against a greater challenge as a masked adult is ready to rumble.

What They Say:With the first round over, the Shop Tournament is really starting to heat up! There's a fight that's drawing everyone's attention, between a middle schooler and an adult dressed as a ninja who is trying to defeat him!

The Review:Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)With the card battles in full swing for tournament mode now, the fun is really picking up, at least in terms of just how unusual some of the participants are. Case in point is the guy in a suit with a classic anime style helmet on his head where he gets into the phrases and such that populate older shows. Ninja Master M is the kind of guy who you do see at these kinds of events that always takes things a little too far. Ok, way too far, and you often feel like you want to slap him hard to just enjoy the game rather than making it such a huge event. With his victory in the first round, he's now set to go against Aichi in the second round which will give Aichi a fresh new challenge to deal with.

With the first rounds finishing out, it's time for the next round and that'll whittle it down further so they can get to the finals in determining the best of the participants for the shop. What makes Aichi's fight so awkward is that he's going up against Ninja Master M who seems to know him, which is obvious since it's his teacher, Sensei Mark. Of course, you can understand why he'd want to hide himself to some degree in this kind of competition since it could be unfair to the students but also really damaging to his reputation. He's so into it in this particular form that it's just bad comedy unfortunately, at least for me, but at least he uses some interesting cards and combinations for his attacks and provides the kind of challenge that Aichi needs, especially in dealing with someone who can be distracting during play.

In Summary:The bulk of the episode is, once again, all about the match. There's some fun to be had here with it as Ninja Master M and Aichi go at it but we do also get a little bit of Kai's match which is playing out at the same time. His harsh confidence is fun to watch since he just goes right at it, getting his business taken care of. Aichi continues to overanalyze everything while still struggling to remember all the rules as well as dealing with the outlandish aspects of his opponent. Thankfully, both of them have some decent attacks on hand and the visual representations of it are pretty good, though it still lacks a form of really making it all feel connected and counted. Cardfight!! Vanguard still hasn't made the show itself since it spends so much of its time on the card fights and dialogue about it though, and that continues to make it a real chore to get through.